Video: Callaway Corvette C7 GT3-R on the Hockenheimring

Since 1988, Callaway Cars has offered modified Corvettes to European customers, including purpose-built race cars starting in 1994. With the passing of the C6 generation, Callaway Competition introduced the C7 GT3-R as the replacement for the outgoing Z06.R GT3, supplying other teams with turnkey vehicles as well as fielding their own Whelen-sponsored entry.

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Unveiled last October at the ADAC GT Masters Season Finale, in this video we see the Callaway team put their car through its paces on the vaunted Hockenheimring road course. Drivers and engineers discuss their initial impressions of the car, while we get a glimpse into what it’s like to drive this 600-horsepower sequential-gearbox GT car at a race pace.

In 2016, the C7 GT3-R will face off against competition like the Porsche 911 GT3R, AMG GT3, Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3, Audi R8 LMS, Bentley Continental GT3, BMW M6 GT3, and even its cousins the Cadillac ATS-V.R CT3 and SaReNi Camaro GT3. In all, there are more than 20 different makes and models with FIA GT3-eligible cars in the mix for next year, offering the possibility of some of the most widely varied race fields ever seen in international sports car competition.

With any new platform, there’s always a learning curve to climb, but based on their past decades of competition success, we anticipate that Callaway will quickly find success on continental road courses with the new C7 GT3-R.

About the author

Paul Huizenga

After some close calls on the street in his late teens and early twenties, Paul Huizenga discovered organized drag racing and never looked back, becoming a SFI-Certified tech inspector and avid bracket racer. Formerly the editor of OverRev and Race Pages magazines, Huizenga set out on his own in 2009 to become a freelance writer and editor.